This paper highlights the important contributions of Marsha Linehan, an American psychologist, researcher, and author. Specifically, this paper discusses Linehan’s personal and professional backgrounds and provides information about dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), her most notable contribution to the field of psychology. Information in this paper underscores Linehan’s relevance to the history of psychology.
Marsha Linehan: Creator of Dialectical Behavior Therapy Marsha Linehan is an American psychologist, researcher, and author. She has made incredible contributions to the field of psychology and is most notable for creating dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). This paper will discuss Linehan’s personal and professional backgrounds and provide information about DBT in order to underscore her relevance for understanding the history of psychology.
Personal Life Marsha M. Linehan was born on May 5, 1943 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In an interview with The New York Times, Linehan opened up about her early years in Tulsa. Linehan was one of six children born to an oilman father and outgoing mother. She excelled in school and played the piano, but felt inadequate compared to her siblings (Carey, 2011). In another interview with The Daily of the University of Washington, Linehan…show more content… To test DBT, Linehan conducted a randomized clinical trial. By 1985, she wrote her first treatment manual. Over several decades, Linehan conducted research to improve DBT in her position as professor of psychology at the University of Washington. Furthermore, she became director of the Behavioral Research and Therapy Clinics (BRTC) at the University of Washington. BRTC primarily focuses on the improvement of DBT, but also develops treatments for suicidal adolescents and offers DBT certification. Linehan continues to serve in her role as director of BRTC (Katz,